los angeles



l. FOREMAN.

BRIQUET.

FILED m APPLICATIO Y6 1916- 1., 1 9%,333. Patented Aug. 8, 1916.

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IRA FOREMAN, 035 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO FRANK W. THOMPSON, 013 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

BRIQUEI'.

Lllfleh Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 1916.

Application filed May 6, 1916. Serial No. 95,783.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRA FOREMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles, State of California, have invented new and, useful Improvements in Briquets, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to fuel briqu ets; and particularly relates to means for b1nding together a fuel briquet made of such substance as refuse wood, chips, sawdust, or the like.

It has heretofore been the practice to make fuel briquets from refuse wood, shavings, sawdust, chips and the like by compressing such substance into a suitable shape, sufficiently heavy pressure being used to make the finished briquet hard and solid. The material is pressed into a form or mold in layers of the thickness of an inch or so; and the finished briquet, although it. may be of any desired shape, may preferably be cylindrical and two or three times as long as its diameter.

The layer stratification of the briquet is parallel to its circular ends; and it has been found necessary to use some kind of a binder to prevent the finished briquets from breaking between the layers. This has heretofore been done by means of a wire tied lengthwise around the briquet; but my present nvention involves a binder or tie or reinforcement for the briquet which has many advantages over the exterior wire tie.

I explain the details of my invention in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which, for the purpose of this specification, I illustrate a preferred form of my invention.

In these drawings Figure 1 is a erspective showing the exterior appearance of my finished briquet; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central sectionof the same showing the binding or reinforcing wires, and Fig. 3 is an end view of the same.

In the drawings I designate the body of the briquet by the numeral 10. As hereinbefore stated this body may be of any size and configuration but is preferably cylindrical and two or three times as long as its diameter. Within the finished briquet there is seen to be embedded a plurality of crimped reinforcing wires 11 extending from end to end of the briquet and arranged oppositely to each other. These wires are preferably two in number and are preferably cramped to a zig zag form. However, I mean to include within the term crimped any form of crimping, or bending, or irregularlty of the wire, of such nature as set forth. Any form of crimping or bending or rregularity of the wire will suffice pro viding that the irregularity of the wire (its departure from straight line form) is sufficient to keep the embedded wire from moving longitudinally in the body of the briquet and to keep the end portions of the briquet from flaking off. The end portions are further kept from flaking off, and the wires further secured, by clenching or bending over their ends, as shown at 11 The reinforcing wires 11 are solidly embedded in the body of the briquet, and the manner of so embedding them is as follows: The reinforcing wires are originally placed in the form or mold in which the briquet is formed and the wood substance is pressed down over and around the reinforcing wires; each layer as it is pressed into place being sufficiently compressed so as to be compressed tightly and solidly around both the reinforcing wires. The reinforcing wires are thus tightly embedded in the finished briquet. The ends of the wires are bent over simultaneously with an operation of cutting the wires. This operation is economically carried out in a special machine which forms the briquet complete.

There are many advantages of the described construction, primary among which is the fact that the reinforcing or binding wires are protected by the briquet itself from being broken; while at the same time they securely and effectively tie the body of the briquet together so as to prevent its breakage or flaking off. My briquet is consequently, one which may be freely handled without fear of breakage or deterioration. At the same time it contains but a small percentage of reinforcing or binding material; the reinforcing wires may be made relatively small because, as hereinbefore stated, they are protected from mechanical injury by the surrounding body of the briquet. The reinforcing wires are also protected by the surrounding body from heat action of the fire until the briquet is well burned. The wires are placed one-half inch or more from the surface and are consequently not affected by the heat immediately when the briqiiet is put in the fire. This is an important feature because of the fact that briquet must be held together in order to have an even and long lasting blaze; otherwise the briquet falls apart and burns quickly.

Having described a preferred form of my invention, I claim:

1. A briquet of the character described, comprising a body made up of layers of compressed material, and a crimped binding Wire embedded in and through the layers of said material.

2. A briquet of the character described, comprising a body made up of layers of compressed material, and a crimped binding Wire embedded in and through the layers of said material from end to end of the briquet transverse of the layers of material.

3. A briquet of the character described, comprising a body of compressed material,

and a Wire reinforcement embedded in the briquet, said reinforcement having an irregular lengthwise configuration.

4. A briquet of the character described,

comprising a body of layers of compressed material, and a metallic Wire reinforcement embedded in the briquet from end to end transverse of the layers of material, said Wires having an irregular lengthwise configuration to prevent relative movement of the layers of the briquet 0n the Wire.

5. A briquet of the character described, comprising a cylindrical body of layers of compressed material, the planes of the layers being parallel to the ends of the cylindrical body, and the length of the body be ing relatively great as compared with its diameter, and a pair of longitudinally extending binding Wires arranged opposite each other near the exterior of the cylindrical body, said binding Wires in crimped formation and extending from end to end of the body and solidly embedded in the layers of material of the body.

In Witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 29th day of April, 1916.

IRA FOREMAN.

Witnesses:

ELWooD H. BARKELEW, JAMES T. BARKELEW.

.Copies of this patent ma be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

